(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . As the nation braces for Texas judge to halt abortion pill use, pregnant people face deadly risks [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-08 The frightening thing is if Kacsmaryk rules in favor of restricting mifepristone nationwide, pregnant people will be left in a horrible situation. People will be forced to travel to God knows where in order to terminate a pregnancy that may not be viable and could even threaten their lives. A Louisiana woman told The Guardian that she was forced to travel 1,400 miles to New York City in September after discovering that the fetus she was carrying was missing the top of its skull. Her home state had outlawed abortion. “Basically … I [would have] to carry my baby to bury my baby,” said Nancy Davis. Of course, Davis isn’t the only one. Eighteen weeks into Elizabeth Weller’s pregnancy, her water broke, catapulting her into a “dystopian nightmare” of “physical, emotions, and mental anguish,” she told NPR. Even though Weller’s pregnancy came and went before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the state of Texas had effectively banned abortions after “fetal heart activity” is detected—at about six weeks gestation. Weller’s doctor told her she would not be legally allowed to terminate her pregnancy. Weller just wasn’t sick enough; her life was not in danger enough, and her fetus still had a heartbeat, in spite of “close to zero” odds of survival. Weller was told which symptoms would qualify as a “medical emergency,” and she was sent on her way. It was only after Weller began discharging a fluid with an odor strong "enough to make her retch" that she would have permission from the doctor and hospital for her pregnancy to be terminated. Abortion bans and bans on the medication used in the procedure force people to give birth to unwanted pregnancies. (Yes, that’s oversimplified.) Forced birth is not only potentially deadly but fascist. Being pro-choice isn’t only a matter of bodily autonomy or a civil rights issue, it’s a human rights issue. As Kate Manning writes in an op-ed for The Washington Post: “Forced-birth laws inflict risks and suffering without a woman’s consent. They amount to a kind of abuse by legislation, violation by fiat, instruments of the law invading women’s body cavities, and sentencing women to a host of minor and major agonies. Some are embarrassing (the breaking of amniotic waters in public), some inconvenient (the inability to bend over an enormous abdomen to tie shoelaces), some exhausting (the shortness of breath caused by compression of the lungs). Others are more serious and debilitating. Even lethal.” This brings us to why a group of women in Texas decided to sue their state over its abortion ban. They’re looking for the state to clarify what the exceptions to the law are. Texas has exceptions that allow for abortions, but pregnant people’s lives are being put at risk when doctors and hospitals are too afraid to stand up for the health of the mother. “Because of the law, I very nearly died. Nothing about this is pro-life,” Amanda Zurawski told MSNBC’s Yamiche Alcindor. The suit will force Texas to lay out exactly what its exceptions are. As Laura Clawson writes about the suit, “it’s far from a complete challenge to the law—abortion should be available not just in emergency situations, as a matter of people’s basic right to control their bodies and make their own health care decisions—but it highlights one important slice of the damage the law is doing.” Markos and Kerry luxuriate in the battle going on between Donald Trump’s ascending fascism and Mitch McConnell’s disappearing neocon establishment. The fighting has become much sharper recently as the MAGA-media outlet Fox News has traveled further and further away from reality. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/8/2156893/-As-the-nation-braces-for-Texas-judge-to-halt-abortion-pill-use-pregnant-people-face-deadly-risks Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/